SARTELL — One local high school student has already set himself academically above the majority of students in the country — two years before his graduation date.

Janagan Ramanathan, a junior at Sartell High School, earned a perfect ACT score, according to a press release from Sartell-St. Stephen school district.

Less than 1 percent of students who take the test earn the highest possible score like Ramanathan, the release said. The test contains four sections: English, math, reading and science, each scored on a 1-36 point scale.

"Students who earn a 36 composite score have likely mastered all of the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in first-year college courses in the core subject areas," the release said.

While a perfect score is rare, it's happened twice in the past few years for the Ramanathan family; Janagan's older brother, Gopi, earned a perfect ACT score in 2014, becoming the first student in Sartell's history to do so. He was also a junior.

Luke Walker teaches science at Sartell High School and coaches the knowledge bowl team. Last school year, Janagan was the youngest person on the team that brought home first place in the state competition.

"Despite being a younger kid on that team…(Janagan) will take on a leadership role in there no problem, without me needing to ask," said Walker.

Walker went on to describe Janagan as "responsible," "courteous" and "hard-working."

"All of that comes with pretty much zero ego," Walker said. "He’s one of those kids that's sometimes hard to get him to talk about himself. But I appreciate that too – there’s a humility there."

Each member of the knowledge bowl team has different strengths and areas of interest; Walker said Janagan's are geography, social studies and anything to do with aviation.

According to Walker, Janagan is involved in many different groups and activities in school beyond knowledge bowl: National Honor Society, student council and AP classes to name a few.

Janagan was not available for comment to the Times on Tuesday.

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